Mrs. Pampinelli. [Stopping in the center-door and turning to Ritter] Perhaps, at our next performance,—Mr. Ritter will favor us with the benefit of some of his suggestions. [She regards him with a touch of lofty amusement. He turns his head towards her and looks at her with a kind of mischievous squint.]
Ritter. [Quite pleasantly] There aren’t going to be any more performances, Mrs. Pampinelli, as far as anybody in this house is concerned.
Mrs. Pampinelli. [After a steady pause] No? [He inclines his head in quiet emphasis.]
Ritter. Not until there’s a change in the management. [There is another taut pause.]
Mrs. Pampinelli. [Coldly] Really? [He inclines his head again.] Then, I’m afraid we sha’n’t have you with us, Mr. Ritter.
Ritter. [Smiling] I know very well you won’t have me with you. And as far as Mrs. Ritter’s concerned,—she’s got a very good home here—and I love her; and any time she feels any dramatic instinct coming on, there’s a very nice roomy attic upstairs, and she can go up there and lock the door, and nobody’ll ever see or hear her. But if she ever gets mixed up again in anything like that atrocity I saw tonight,—I’m through. [He speaks the last words with quiet definiteness, and turns towards the door at the left.] And she’ll get killed in the bargain. [He hits the door open with the palm of his hand and goes out. There is a slight pause: then Nelly Fell crosses quickly towards the mantelpiece, addressing Ritter as she goes.]
Mrs. Fell. Why, Fred Ritter!—I’ve heard you say yourself that you were in favor of a Little Theatre in this city!
Ritter. [Coming in again through the door at the left, carrying his overcoat, derby and scarf] So I am! I say so again. [He stops inside the door.] But in the light of that cataclysm tonight, you’ll pardon me if I add, that I do not see the connection.
Mrs. Pampinelli. [Stepping forward to the middle of the room and challenging him with a lift of her head and brows] What did you expect to see, Mr. Ritter,—a finished performance from a group of comparative amateurs?
Ritter. I expected to see something almost as bad as what I saw;—that’s the reason I fainted last night and was unconscious for twenty-four hours at the prospect of it. [He turns to Mrs. Fell and speaks quite colloquially.] And that’s the first time in my life I’ve ever fainted. [Nelly just gives him a look and turns her head away.]